Third Annual Dirksen Derby

The Northwest has always been notorious for its laid-back contest atmosphere full of good times. That’s exactly what went down at the third annual Dirksen Derby race this past Sunday at Mt. Bachelor, Oregon. What truly makes this event so special is that 100% of the proceeds are donated to a local shredder Tyler Eklund; who was left paralyzed from neck down when he took a fall during practice at USASA nationals a few years ago.

Over 170 Snowboarders, split-snowboarders, sit skiers, and skiers showed up to support Tyler, and of course to race. Hand dug by Josh Dirksen and a few others- the course tested your speed, endurance, and agility while navigating through an immensely tight-banked course. We were greeted to an unexpected 4 inches of fresh snow in the morning, which couldn’t of come at a better time to end a harsh dry spell that has been lingering around the Cascades for 2 weeks too long. Although it wasn’t much, it made one hell of difference when it came down to either riding a little bit of packed powder or sheet ice.

Awards took place in the lodge up at Mt. Bachelor held by Josh Dirksen. Curtis Ciszek swooped up the first place finish with an impressive time of 26.72 seconds followed by Logan Beaulieu, and last year’s winner Adam Haynes topping off the 3rd place spot. 3.28 seconds behind Curtis came his sister Shelly Ciszek who took home 1st place in the women’s division followed by Ashley Thorton and Anne Jackson. Most importantly coming in 1st in the quad sit-ski division was Tyler Eklund who was undoubtedly more stoked than anybody else at the event, even more so when Josh presented Tyler with his very own sit-ski. A pretty emotional ending to an amazing day of shredding. (Full results posted below)

Huge thanks to everyone who showed up raising 5,000 dollars for Tyler! Even bigger thanks to Josh Dirksen for setting the whole thing up- who seriously deserves some sort of Peace Prize for everything he did. All the sponsors: DaKine, Salomon, Bonfire, Scott, Side Effect, Exit Real World, Skjersaa’s, Deck Tech, Rebound Physical Therapy, Parrilla Grill, and Oregon Adaptive Sports.If you missed out this year, mark your calendars for next year, it’s not one to miss.